Boston University College of Practical Arts and Letters - Sivad Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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O , . 0 . 5 V 0 D 0 7 I . I I 66 ' , 1 , : Yr Y . . 0 0 I i f , i ai y I 7 . . . . 7 ' 2 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 9 0 O 0 0 ' 1 I , 1 . I .....-'i .. ...llfIl.. Glhv Qlrrahnn anh Brhvlnpmvni nf Ofnr Glnllrgv By GEORGE RALEIGH COIFFIMAN PH D Professor cmd H earl of the Department of Efnlgltsh Four or five years ago Professor Joseph Richard Taylor wrote a very interesting article pertaining to the establishment of our College In this monograph Professor Taylor stated It was in 1917 that Dean T Lawrence Davis a man formerly connected with one of the leading banks of a large New England c1ty established at Boston University a group of war emergency courses for women with a view to supplying the urgent need for trained business women to take the places of young men who had gone to the Front The demonstrated need of such courses led to further and what proved to be even more important developments The war emergency session brought into existence the conditions which precipitated the drawing up of definite recommendations for the creation of a new type of college in accordance with plans which had been formulated and studied over a period of years by Dean Davis The brief article which Professor Taylor so thoughtfully prepared 'has given us a general idea of the prob- lems faced by Dean Davis when he sought permission to establish our College under the protecting wing of Boston University. It seems to me that it is quite fitting now, in view of our T-enth Anniversary, for the Editor of the SIVAD to provide for a :detail-ed story of the development of the College from the days when it existed only in the mind of the Dean. Consequently, as one who has been associated with the educational founder for several years, I am happy to accept the invitation of the Editor to pre- sent the history of P. A. L. A few days Iago, I t-alked w'ith Dean Davis about some of his early experiences. In response to my request, he reviewed somewhat at length the story of his educational experiment. In part he said: Professor Taylor was quite right in assuming that I began to formulate plans for a separate college for women during the period when I was in charge of the war emergency courses here in Boston University. It was not until the early part of 1919, however, that my ideas concerning the proposed college had been developed to such an extent that I felt justified in presenting it to the President of Boston University and to some of the Trustees. I realized that my idea represented a genuine innovation as far as the educational methods of Boston University were concerned. All existing departments of the University were co-educational. I was appearing before the Presi- dent and Trustees to propose the establishment of something entirely new- a completely-separate -college for women, with its own buildings and faculty, and with -certain methods of educational procedure which would differ greatly from the methods employed in the co-educational schools and colleges of the Boston University system. To make a long story short, after I had convinced the University authorities that I would be able to secure a suitable building as an experimental base-a building that could be paid for through funds which the operation of the college would provide 'Q 1--Ji J.,-.N W U K 92 544. M-WMV at .ft ff' b my '----A A--fx W- --s- WW-fs-M' -f-'f '--' - -WW'-'i ' 's ' f 1 QQM'Eff' 'i lim' - A 5' is Hilwiii-lllfllill I' Zi'Zj1Tj'j,iQ1Qi7gjgg1,jjQjY,fi,X ' .,...,.a-..,...--.....-....,......-..-.W.---...,-,,,....,...W.-----9 'Q' .- L 1' I pi Q- if ,, ww-...M-.WW was W-W-sf'w-f-:--f-'-f---- 'P-w , gg- if lv. if ,c.,. ll , . X ....-..,.-.. ..-...g A ,A F -Km 2 5-f .f X ,,,.,....,..E,....,Y 4 ' 4-v:,f,w.n.1-,wg-11, - V V .ly v1--- ---S-. ,Af I, M T 4 7 Va-. 1,1 is si w x 3 I n I 5 i i I E 2 13 :I 'N 3 i il' l l l I l l il 5 l i 1 1 5 5 l l ll 4 ll 3 fl 'l il ll El l U il '1 ii ny I .z

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JOKSEPHINE LASH P1'esi.dent, Student G0'U6 I 'l'L'H'L6'lLlf

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, M'-Tl.!III'.' ' ,LTL HWMH ' rwtrf- fi Pita Advisers. if .,, Ii in 1. if .Avi 'wif .i . WI' l W. ,i X71 .1 , 1. 'ii' iw. up ,ii if 'fs ll .ist slit ,lil 'll Ella' ii . if ' I 1. .' itll. ,Els Alix VGA ll 4. 5, .i H H 1 if 1i'1 lin i-s J i ia l .lu iz 'iii 'lf iw Z.,i all lil il mtg E. 'Mia e . H Y ii dd M M dddd ' 'A 1 -and after the President had given his approval, my plan was accepted. Accordingly the new college for women came into existence on May 8, 1919. Incidentally, I want to make sure that Mr. Graydon Stetson and Mrs. f Francis Lee Higginson receive the praise which is due them for their in splendid assistance in forming the Board of Guarantors and Board of i It was evident, Dean Davis continued, that there was a definite it need for another separ.ate college for wioimfen in New England: a college providing a curriculum that would train girls simultaneously for life's journey and for the vocational work in which they might be engaged imme- W diately after graduation. It was evident, too, that the establishment of this ii new college would mean that Boston University could make an appeal to Eglflj some parents who otherwise would not be interested in the University. I am referring to those parents-and, of course, we do find many of them- who do not believe in co-education. Likewise, it was our feeling that ll certain philanthropists might be impressed with the uniqueness of our lflli opportunity when even the excellent work of the co-educational colleges and schools would not ap-peal to them. We knew that our greatest op-por- .2 tunity rested in the eventual creation of a large campus site for our college, ii a campus of at least seventy-five to a hundred acres, which would have all .V of the features ordinarily associated with a college exclusively for women. Qi Temporarily, however, we planned to use the property which we found to it be available at 27 Garrison Street, knowing that its convenient location ,gg would commend it to the average 'commuter'. While our womanls-college liffl campus plans called for the creation of a beautiful library building, we 11 knew that, for temporary use, a structure near the Boston Public Library li: would be beneficial to our young people. For these reasons, and for the ggi, reason that we had relatively little money with which to begin our experi- ment, we took over the Garrison Street building with considerable pleasure. gg We felt that on this site we could perfect our educational plan, study our permanent building needs, and attract the necessary endowment and build- ig ing funds. During the first nine years of the life of the institution, the ,ill co-operation of faculty and students resulted in a development which was QW eminently successful and which, in some respects, exceeded our fondest ii 5 hopes. That there was a place, in this section of New England, for the type t yi of college which we had proposed, was proved to the satisfaction of the Tl, many friends who had been watching our activities since 1919. , - A Dean Davis then spoke of the organization of the College. When the lg original plan was placed before the Board of Trustees, I considered it to be desirable to choose a college name which might be used only for a rela- .A tively few years, but which might be particularly help-ful, in that period of i prosperity immediately following the War, in attracting the large number ly of students whose interest and support would be essential to the early success of our undertaking. At just that time the head of the College of WE Business Administration was rather anxious to eliminate the secretarial il training program from his department of the University. Because of this QW sintulation, I could :see that it was decidedly -to our' advantage to adopt 'secre- tarial 'work' as our first endeavor in the way of vocational and professional if ii? I, N '1,-... ,J-a ' ., ,. .Si afTL,i,,,,...,,,,...,.i:: iff i'2.f.fI...,...,.-.LI..Q--3' ,f 3 f.i' .fun , aff , X lx MA.-. , , ,.,, .I4,.,-.,-.., I-.. L,,., ' ,,, -LM I . , 7 Q, J X 4. , A -AL ...,,:.,..,..-.,,,,1,,. ,.,, :NZM Y Yggmj ,Q ,S X 'LQITTQTQ'-TTiZ:!liJI'flT'l ' d ' ififp it itil? ',., 1 ' Vxfli lei 41.33 it ,...,,..1 1:1...Lg: 1-g 'Trf'tf'T '.i:i't.TQ1iii?'f'5AK 5 gg v, ,.-TJ. E11 l r